RX8 Powerplant Sourced

After a bit of thought and discussion with those in the know (i.e. someone who has rebuilt a rotary engine before) it turns out that the engine that I declined initially could be fixed and relatively cheaply.

One of the benefits other than a cheaper price is that when the engine is rebuilt is will be better than an old second hand one and will also be tweaked a bit to make a bit more power, cant leave it stock when I rebuild it can I??? hehe

I secured a very very good price and made payment today. Another bonus is any of the damaged parts such as the charcoal canister and cold start air pump will be replaced for free once they get another RX8 in. Given that I want the clubman going in about twelve months that gives them ample time.

I also bought an electronic RX8 workshop manual today which should have electrical diagrams in it. The wiring is probably the trickiest part of the build, but it will be the second time I've rewired a car/engine. So while I am waiting for the chassis to arrive I can spend the next month or so going over the wiring harness and trimming it down to just the bare essentials (no air con, heater, power windows, door sensors etc etc etc).

Not long now until I start clogging up my friends garage with clubman parts, very exciting (for me that is!).

Tools, Tools and more Tools... Oh and an Auction!

Well the sale of the S15 is going rather slow, even after several price drops :-( At the moment I've dropped it to my rock bottom price of $22,999 (last night). So *fingers crossed*.

The really annoying thing is the number of tools who are making ridiculous offers (e.g. $17k) or even others who say they have the money. Come and test drive (see test poliot) and then say 'oh, I've got to sell my car first and then I can buy yours'. Very frustrating.

On the clubman side of things after the engine sale fell through due to it being a dud I decided to take a look over the Australian auctions to see if any local RX8's we for sale. I managed to come across a June 2009 series 2 RX8 with some heavy suspension/frame damage that had not affected the running gear or engine. I am having Option 1 Garage bid for me today.

The offer I made is a little more than I would have liked to of spent but for brand new running gear including a revised motor, gearbox and diff ratios I really cant complain. All of the wearable parts would be in tip top condition.

I will find out if I am lucky enough to get these parts today after the auction.

Update: Well as I suspected the car went for a lot more than I am Option 1 Garage were willing to spend on the car. It was repairable so I guess some one bought it to repair. Back to the drawing board, something will come up soon and with Christmas looming I should probably wait until January to buy hardware. I wont have the clubman until then anyways :-)

No luck on the RX8 engine for sale

Well after going through the deposit and engine check process it turns out the engine I was looking at purchasing is damaged. The mechanic who checked it says that it has 2mm of end shaft play, which is about 1.9mm more than the maximum allowances set by Mazda.

So back to the search for a motor! damn, twas such a good deal too. The wholesaler will keep an eye out for another RX8 import/wreck for me though.

On a positive note, I have been told that my clubman will built by December 16th and will ship not long after that. Woohoo!!!

A progressive day

Well today was a somewhat progressive day. I met my engineer for the first time and gained quite a lot of information.

It turns out using a jap spec engine is fine as long as I used the aussie ECU (at the time of testing) and in total the engineering costs wont be all that much (about $3-5k). Some may think that this is pretty expensive, but it means that the car will be much safer and stronger as a result. Cant argue with more safety can you? It also turns out that the standard fuel talk for the westfield is pretty dodge and I can get a much safer one made locally that can house the RX8 fuel pump assembly.

I've also spoken to option 1 garage again who quoted me $4.5k for the RX8 engine, loom, ecu and gearbox. I've gotten them to include the full driveshaft, fuel pump assembly, full wiring loom from the car including fuse boxes/relays/ignition components from the steering column as well as the clutch slave/master. In total for $5k delivered with an engine check, bargain!

On a sader note, I've had no calls yet for the silvia and it's only been clicked on 108 times in a week. So I've dropped the price a little in an attempt to get some bites. Go you good thing!!

Price check on aisle RX8

I've just done some research on the RX8 motor for prices, weights etc...

Apparently a short motor (no bolt on's like A/C, Altenator and manifolds) weighs 107kg (as quoted by mazda), and the weight with bolt on's is about ~120kg according to the internet and the gearbox is 56kg (mazda). Add another 20kg just to be safe and this is still ~20kg less than a S2000 motor and gearbox.

I've been quoted $4,500 for an S2000 motor with ECU + loom, the gearbox would be roughly another $1,500 on top of that. Comparing these prices to the $4,400 I've been quoted for the RX8 motor incl gearbox, loom, ecu, drive shaft and engine test it looks like the RX8 motor is the clear winner here.

I still need to discuss this with my engineer but I am strongly leaning towards the RX8 motor at this stage.

Interesting, I might very soon be the owner of an RX8 power plant! Nice...